Top opening carton



B. l. BARNES TOP OPENING CARTON pri 25, W6?

3 Sheetsheet l Filed April 22, 1965 VLS. Z

PT 25, 1967 B. l. BARNES 3,315,870

TOP OPENING CARTON Filed April 22, 1965 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR BAYARD I- BARNES Nfl/4,@

ATTORNEY B. l. BARNES TOP OPENING CARTON l April 25, 1967 5 sheetssheet s Filed April 22, 1965 FIG@ FGT

INVENTOR.

N m w B N 1. m WWU A mm B 3,315,870 TUF OPENlNG CARTGN Bayard I. Barnes, Oakland, Calif., assiguor to The Mead Corporation, a corporation of Unio Filed Apr. 22, 1965, Ser. No. 449,982 it Claim. (Cl. 229-37) This invention relates to cartons and more particularly to folding cartons of the trunk type which preferably are constructed from paperboard coated with thermoplastic material for rendering the carton liquid-tight and for use as heat scalable securing means. The invention is particularly concerned with the patterned application of the thermoplastic material to various areas of the blank so as to form an effective liquid-proofing and sealing action where desired without interfering with the use and reuse of the carton as a receptacle.

The practice of utilizing thermoplastic material as a coating on paperboard for the purpose of rendering the paperboard liquid-tight and for the purpose of securing various panels of the paperboard blank together is well known. Difculties have been encoutered in employing thermoplastic materials for certain types of cartons such, for example, as trunk type cartons due to the fact that such cartons frequently are used for consumer type products such as ice cream and when so used must of necessity be capable of serving as a receptacle for the packaged product over a considerable period of time. When so used, an overall coating of heat scalable thermoplastic material may interfere with the opening and closing of such a carton b-oth initially and during reuse unless special rocedures are followed.

A principal object of this invention is to provide an improved carton which utilizes thermoplastic material as a liquid-proofing substance and as a heat scalable substance and applied in a pattern so as not to interfere in any way with the normal use of such carton as a receptacle.

Another object of this invention is the provision of an improved carton blank which is coated in certain areas and uncoated in other areas with suitable thermoplastic material which material constitutes a liquid-proofing substance as well as a heat sealable substance, care being taken toarrange the patterned coating so as not to interfere with its liquid-prooiing action or its heat sealing action and at the same time to avoid interfering in any way with the proper operation and use of the carton.

Still another object of the invention is to eliminate the step of applying adhesive to the blank and the apparatus and materials heretofore required in such an operation.

The invention in one form as applied, for example, to a trunk type carton havingr a body portion and a hinged lid portion with end panel structure at its ends, the end panel structures having front and rear portions, utilizes thermoplastic material arranged so as to secure the inner surfaces of the rear portions of the end panel structures but not the inner surfaces of the front portions of the end panel structures to the adjacent portions of the body portion of the carton.

For a better understanding of the invention, reference may be had to the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which FIG. l is a perspective view of a carton of the trunk type such as is customarily used to package ice cream, for example, and to which the invention is particularly applicable; FIG. 2 is a perspective view of an end of the carton shown in FIG. l during the process of formation of the carton and showing the carton in tubular form but with the end portion open; FIG. 3 is a plan view of a blank from which the carton depicted in FIG. 1 is formed; FIG. 4 is a View of the right hand part of the blank shown in .United States IPatent O FIG. 3 and stippled so as to represent patterned coating with thermoplastic material on the inner surface of the blank, it being understood that the two sides of the blank are identical and that stippled areas represent uncoated portions; FIG. 4A is a view similar to FIG. 4 and represents a moditicationot` the invention; FIG. 5 is a view similar to FIG. 4 but representing the outside surface of the portion of the blank depicted in FIG. 4 and which depicts patterned application of thermoplastic material to the outer surface of the blank in accordance with this invention and wherein stippling denotes uncoated areas; FIGS. 6 and 7 are views similar to FIG. 2 and depict the sequence of folding of the various end panels in order to complete the carton at one end thereof. Of course it will be understood that after one end of the carrier is closed as indicated in FIGS. 6 and 7, the contents may be inserted through the other end and the other end then closed in a manner represented in FIGS. 6 and 7, it being understood that the lid portion of the carrier is initially closed as represented for example in FIGS. 1 and 2 before any of the end panels are secured in their closed positions.

With reference primarily to FIG. 3, the numeral 1 generally designates the front panel of the carton while the numerals 2 and 3 represent the bottom and rear panels, respectively. Front panel 1 is foldably joined to the front edge of bottom panel 2 along fold line 4 while rear panel 3 is foldably joined to the rear edge of bottom panel 2 along fold line 5. A lid panel 6 is foldably joined to the top edge of rear panel 3 along fold line 7 and a lid front panel 8 is foldably joined to the front edge of lid panel 6 along fold line 9. A conventional tear strip 10 is formed across the lid front panel 8.

As is well understood in the art, a tubular structure such as is represented in FIG. 2, for example, is formed from the blank depicted in FIG. 3 by simply aiixing the edge portion 1i of the lid front panel d to the upper part of the front panel 1 as shown for example in FIGS. 1 and 2.

The ends of the carton are formed from the end panels disposed along the end edges of the front, bottom, rear, top lid and lid front panels. For example, front end panels l2 and I3 are foldably joined to the front panel 1 along fold lines 14 and 15, respectively. Similarly, bottom end panels 1d and 17 are foldably joined to the bottom panel 2 along fold lines 18 and 19, respectively. Rear end panels 2li and 21 are foldably joined along fold lines 22 and 23, respectively, to the rear panel 3 while lid end panels Z4 and 25 are foldably joined along fold lines 26 and 27 respectively to the top lid panel 6. Formed in the lid end panel 24 is a weakened severance line 28 whereby the lid end panel 24 is divided into a front portion 29 and a rear'porti-on 30. In like fashion, a weakened severance line 3l is formed in the lid end panel 2S and serves to separate that panel into a front portion 32 and a rear portion 33. Secured to the ends of the lid front panel S are a pair of corner tabs 34 and 35 which are foldably joined to lid front panel S along fold lines 36 and 37, respectively..

The arrangement of panels as described above and as shown, for example, in FIGS. l, 2 and 3 forms no part of the present invention and it will be understood that this invention is not limited to the structure shown. It will be understood that, depending on the sequence in which the end panels are folded and closed, the tear olf section deiined by the weakened severance line may be part of the rear end panel. In still another version, the weakened severance line may be parallel to the top edge of the carton, thus dividing the lid end panel into an upper and lower (tear-off) portion. According to one aspect of this invention, patterned coating of thermoplastic material is applied to the inner face of the blank as depicted in FIG. 4 and patterned coating for the outside of the blank is applied as depicted in FIG. 5.

In FIGS. 4 and 5 the stipple-d areas represent uncoated areas whereas the plain areas represent coated surfaces to which a suitable thermoplastic material has been applied such, for example, as polyethylene.

With reference to FIG. 4, it is apparent that the bottom portion 11 of lid front panel 8 is uncoated. This is to enable suitable gluing of this portion to the front panel 1 in accordance with known practice` Corner tab 35 is uncoated on its inner surface and at least a part of the front portion of lid end panel 25 is uncoated and the rear portion 33 of lid end panel 2-5 is coated. The front portion 32 is uncoated except for the small corner area designated by the letter A which is coated. The coating of the area A is `for the purpose of securing the outer surface of corner tab 35 to the inner surface of lid end panel 25. Thus when the corner tab 35 is in its assembled position as represented in FIG. 1 the entire inner front portion of the end panel structure constituting corner tab 35 and area 32 of lid end panel 25 which is in front of the severance line 31 is uncoated. The rear portion 33 of the end panel structure constituting tab 35 and lid end panel 25 is coated and hence adheres to the coated area of rear end panel 21. Of course, the end panels 12, 16, 20 and 24 and corner tab 34 are coated identically to the corresponding end panels at the other end of the carton as described.

The inner surface of tab 35 and of the front portion 32 of lid end panel 25 are uncoated to allow the top 6 of the trunk type cartons to lbe swung open freely by simply severing the line 31 after the tear strip 10 is removed. In this way, ready access to the contents of the carton is obtained and continued use of the carton as a storage receptacle for unused contents is facilitated.

With reference to FIG. 5, all areas of the outer portion of the blank are coated except the outer area of lid end panel 25, the outer surface of bottom end panel 17, area 38 of front end panel 13 and the tarea 39 of rear end panel 21. The end panels at the other end of the carton are similarly coated.

While the blank may be coated by any desired process, it will ordinarily be preferable to apply the coating by printing procedures.

The carton is formed into tubular form as represented in FIG. 2 by simply securing the strip 11 to the front wall 1. Thereafter, the rst folding operation constitutes folding front end panel 13 into its closed position as represented in FIG. 6. Embossments 13A and 17A tend to compensate -for the thickness of panel 21 and tend to maintain panel 17 in -a flat plane. Simultaneously, corner tab 35 is folded into flat face contacting relation with the front end panel 13. Thereafter, rear end panel 21 is folded into overlapping relationship to the front end panel 13 as depicted for example in FIG. 7. The uncoated area 39 of panel 21 forms a continuation of t-he uncoated area 38 of panel 13. Thereafter, bottom end panel 17, being coated `on its inner surface, is folded up into flatface contacting relation with the overlapped panels 13 and 21 and the lid end panel 25 is folded downwardly and the portion 33 thereof which is coated on its inner surface overlies the exposed part of rear end panel 21. The thus assembled ends of the carton can be sealed by application of heat and pressure whereby the superposed coated areas -of the end structure as described are secured to each other.

With the cart-on thus assembled as depicted in FIG. 1, the tab 35 and the front portion 32 of lid end panel 215 are free to swing away from the trunk portion of the carton when the end panel structure is severed along severance line 31. Similar action takes place vat the other end f the carton when the severance line 28 is broken.

Thus, in accordance with the invention, an improved coating procedure and carton are provided whereby the carton is rendered liquid-tight and the lid portion is readily operable when the tear strip 10 is removed and when the panels 25 and 29 are broken along7 severance lines 31 and 28.

In FIG. 4A the severance line 31 is omitted and the lid end panel 25 is affixed as by the coated square area 33A to the coated area of the outer surface of rear end panel 21. The tab 35 is adhered on its outer face to the inner coated area A. Thus the area 33A normally is adhered to panel 21 and the band therebetween is ruptured when the lid is opened.

While particular embodiments of the invention are shown as described, it will be understood that the invention is not limited thereto and that it is intended in the appended claim to cover all such changes and modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention.

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows:

A carton comprising a bottom panel, front and rear panels foldably joined to the front and rear edges respectively of said bottom panel, a lid pane-1 foldably joined to the edge of said rear panel remote from said bottom panel, a thermoplastic heat scalable liquid tight coating completely covering the inside and outside surfaces of said bottom, front, rear and lid panels, rear end panels foldably joined to opposite end edges of said rear panel -respectively, front end panels foldably joined t-o the end edges of said front panel respectively, bottom end panels foldably joined to opposite end edges of said bottom panel respectively, and a thermoplastic heat scalable liquid tight coating ycompletely covering the inside surface of said bottom end panels and completely covering the inside surfaces and partially covering the outside surfaces of said rear end panels and of said front end panels, said front and rear end panels being secured together in `overlapping relationship with portions of the outer surfaces of said front end panels being disposed in face contacting relation with the entire inner surfaces of said rear end panels and being secured thereto by said heat scalable coatings and the inner surfaces of said bottom end panels being secured in face contacting relation to portions yof the outer surfaces of said rear end panels and of said front end panels, said rear end panels being narrower than said front end panels and being secured to the outer surfaces of said front end panels respectively so as to expose an outer area of said front end panels and the exposed areas of said frontend panels and of the contacting areas of said bottom end panels being embossed.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,122,480 7/1938 Lowey.

2,133,946 10/ 1938 Bloomer.

2,330,666 9/ 1943 Berkowitz.

2,810,507 10/ 1957 Saunders 229--51 3,094,432 6/ 1963 Meyer-Jajenberg 229-51 3,125,274 3/1964 Zimm 229--17 XR 3,163,350 12/1964 Zimm 229--17 XR 3,165,254 1/1965 Moore 229-51 3,197,114 7/1965 Holmes 229-51 3,206,101 9/1965 Holmes 229-51 3,206,103 9/1965 Bixler 229-51 JOSEPH R. LECLAIR, Primary Examiner.

DAVIS T, MOOREHEAD, Examiner, 

